150 jobs in San Francisco will be lost as video-game maker shuts down

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The San Francisco-based video game company, which is known for classic Star Wars video games such as X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, will be shut down by new parent company Disney, the San Francisco Business Times first reported.

Star Wars at the San Jose Tech Museum

LucasFilm later released a statement that said it was shifting from building video games to licensing out the Star Wars names to developers.

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

Disney recently paid $4 billion for Lucasfilm Ltd. and will shut the studio — which will result in the loss of 150 jobs — as a way to consolidate costs.

There will still be future Star Wars games, and the ones under development will likely be created.

But the future? Other companies will make them.

According to its website, LucasArts was founded in 1982 by filmmaker George Lucas. It said it is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide for video game console systems, computers, mobile devices and the Internet. It has development facilities in San Francisco and Singapore.